Soap opera fans sometimes find they need to hide their love for programs that others describe as dreck.

Over the Ridge ... Bold and the Beautiful's Ronn Moss and co-star Katherine Kelly Lang in their final scenes together. Photo: Ten

But one respected journalist has acknowledged a soapie in a very public, and possibly unexpected, way.

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In the wake of the final episode featuring Ridge Forrester, the main character of The Bold and The Beautiful, Ten newsreader Mal Walden began his 5pm bulletin on Tuesday in a slightly unorthodox way.

"Farewell Ridge. Good evening," Walden greeted viewers, some of whom would have watched the soap that immediately precedes the news, and some of whom would no doubt have been in tears at the departure of 60-year-old actor Ronn Moss, after 25 years.

Breaking news ... Ten newsreader Mal Walden. Photo: Rebecca Hallas

It's not the first time that Walden, 67, has broken the traditional newsreader rules when delivering bulletins in Melbourne over many decades.

In 2007, when announcing stories still to come in the bulletin, he dismissed an interview screened earlier with a Qantas air hostess who had a fling with actor Ralph Fiennes.

"Coming up, is homework - like that hostess story - really a waste of time?" Walden asked.

Earlier this year, in a nod to Gen Y viewers, he labelled an extreme plane landing "totes amaze" [totally amazing] and over the years has had trouble pronouncing the word "phenomenon" - with amusing attempts on YouTube, for posterity.

In Moss' final episode on Tuesday, Ridge married Brooke for the sixth time and their dramatic honeymoon duly followed.

But nothing in soap world ends happily ever after and the marriage doesn't survive.

Brooke arrives home alone from the Paris honeymoon.

Another spoiler alert - here comes the reveal.

About 20 episodes from now, it will be revealed that Ridge believed his wife was cheating on him.

Brooke had received text messages from Deacon Sharpe - her former lover and her daughter's former lover - and had kept them secret from a heartbroken Ridge.

It is not yet known how Walden feels about the latest developments in the saga.